Color imaging array

• US 4,047,203 A
• Filed: 05/12/1976
• Issued: 09/06/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Dillon, Peter L. P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Murray, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Saffian, Mitchell
• Application Number:
  US05/685,824
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 358/41, 358/44, 358/43, 358/15
• US Class Current: 348/276
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/134 based on three different wavelength filter elements

Abstract

Light responsive elements of a color imaging array are arranged in basic groupings of four aligned elements, which groupings included two luminance-responsive elements that alternate with individual elements for two other basic colors. These groupings are repeated along a line and are shifted by one element in each adjacent line. As a result of intermixing color-responsive elements in this way, high-spatial-frequency luminance sampling is achieved for all directions on the array and closely repeated patterns of elements are achieved for all three basic colors in both fields of the array (here assuming a two-field interlaced readout array). Because closely repeated sampling occurs for all colors in both fields of such an array, the field-to-field color flicker, that can occur when intermixed color sampling is attempted using an interlaced-readout imaging array, is avoided.

Claims

1. A color imaging device comprising a rectangular array of interrogable photoelectric elements, such elements being selectively responsive to respective colors which correspond to a preselected three color basis, one color of which corresponds essentially to luminance;

said elements being arranged in a configuration wherein alignments along one major dimension of the array consist essentially of a repeated four element grouping having two luminance-responsive elements alternating with elements responsive respectively to the other two colors of said basis, each successive such alignment being shifted by one element position but otherwise having substantially the same color pattern.

2. A color imaging device according to claim 1 wherein the luminance color corresponds essentially to the green portion of the spectrum and the other color basis colors correspond essentially to the blue and red portions of the spectrum.

3. A color imaging device according to claim 1 wherein the color responsive elements are elements of chargecoupled imaging array having absorption-type filters superposed in one-to-one registration therewith.

4. A color imaging device comprising a rectangular array of photoelectric elements which are interrogable in an interlaced manner by rows progressing from a first row at one end of said array, such elements being selectively responsive to respective colors which form a preselected three color basis one color of which corresponds essentially to luminance;

said elements being arranged in a configuration wherein alignments along one major dimension of the rectangular array consist essentially of a repeated four element grouping having two luminance-responsive elements alternating with elements responsive respectively to the other two colors of said basis, each successive such alignment being shifted one element in a preselected direction paralleling the grouping alignments.

5. A color imaging device according to claim 4 wherein the direction of grouping alignment is a direction corresponding to the row axis and said groupings are shifted by one element to the right for adjacent rows in progressing from said first row to the opposite side of the array.

6. A color imaging device comprising a rectangular array of elemental photoelectric areas, each said area being responsive to a respective color from a three color basis, and one such color corresponding essentially to luminance, said luminance responsive elements, for a given diagonal direction, occurring exclusively at every other diagonal of the array, the other two color responsive elements alternately occurring exclusively along the remaining diagonals of that same direction and, for the remaining diagonals in one diagonal direction, the elements alternating between responses for the two non-luminance colors of the basis from one diagonal to the next.

8. An array according to claim 6 wherein the one element shift is uniformly in the same row direction.

7. A light responsive array for color imaging comprising:

rows of elements which are respectively sensitive to individual colors of a three color basis, one color of which corresponds to luminance, such rows being made up of repeated groupings of two luminance corresponding color elements alternating with individual elements for the other two basic colors, each successive such row being, essentially, of the same pattern as the preceding row but is shifted one element in a row direction.